Most Dominant Fighter of it's time...

What was the most dominant fighter of it's time?


  • Total voters
    62
Bandit LOAF said:
I'll argue against the Raptor, too. The Raptor served famously at the Enyo/McAuliffe Engagement... but I can't think of another single example of Raptors being the deciding factor. It'd be like saying the Dauntless was the standout fighter of World War II because they were responsible for sinking the Japanese carriers at Midway. Rather, they simply happened to be the standard dive bombers at the time of the battle. I'm sure the minefields could have been deployed just as easily with Broadswords.

The Dauntless was a Dive Bomber. It was not, by any stretch of imagination, a fighter... there were attempts to use Dive Bombers as Fighters in times of desperation, but most ended VERY BADLY (For Dauntlesses, or even worse, the newer Helldivers, anyway... Japanese 'Val' dive bombers actually made passable fighters). Dauntlesses did make some fighter-style kills in WWII, but there wer usually when they managed to sneak up un unsuspecting Japanese bombers.

And actually, IIRC, with the possible exception of the Japanese "Kate" torpedo bomber, no other aircraft sunk more tonnage in WWII than the Dauntless.

And seeing as i have only played privateer, i vote for the "refurbished taurus" (just kidding).
 
Sarty said:
Those T-bolts and Excals obviously came from stations or from planetside, which dont always have top of the line military fighters. The Midway and the Cerberus had them because both ships were brand new.

And yet the Midway-class carriers have a T-bolt squadron in their full fighter loadout. :)
 
That doesnt dispute my point that Vampires are obviously in mass-production and that T-bolts and Excals might no longer be Confed's primary heavy fighters.
 
The Dauntless was a Dive Bomber. It was not, by any stretch of imagination, a fighter... there were attempts to use Dive Bombers as Fighters in times of desperation, but most ended VERY BADLY (For Dauntlesses, or even worse, the newer Helldivers, anyway... Japanese 'Val' dive bombers actually made passable fighters). Dauntlesses did make some fighter-style kills in WWII, but there wer usually when they managed to sneak up un unsuspecting Japanese bombers.

That's my point (as you'll notice, I go on to say that they're dive bombers...). The Raptor is famous for a single incident where it served as, of all things, a minelayer -- that's not enough to get it into the history books as the standout *fighter* of the war.
 
I don't understand what this poll is asking. I mean, does 'dominant' mean the fighter that influenced a certain period the most? The fighter most representative of a certain period? Or is this merely yet another "best fighter" poll phrased differently?

If it's either of the first two, how come there's no Rapier I or Scimitar on the voting list? Surely, this ships which were used for decades even before the war, and were then used everywhere until as late as 2654, would qualify as the most influential ships not just of their time period, but of the entire war?
 
Yeah, it's an awkward question.

I suppose it's not asking what the technically best fighter is, because in general terms that's certainly either the Excalibur or the Bloodfang. It's also not asking what the most *important* fighter is, because that again is the Excalibur. It's hard to argue with the idea that the Excalibur's unique attributes (Shroud, m/am engine, bomb load, etc.) contributed very directly to the end of the war.

So, my take would be that the question is more along the lines of what the Wing Commander equivalent of the Mustang is. What fighter has that somewhat romantic je ne sais quoi that *represents* success in the war effort?

I'd have to say that it must be the Rapier II -- it's the one fighter that *we* fly across many years. I think what strikes me as most relevant in this sense is a scene from the last part of End Run, where Bondarevsky realizes that the Concordia has come to the rescue because he sees a perfect diamond formation of Rapiers. It's not the *best* fighter in history, but it's certainly the archetype that all other 'reward' fighters followed.
 
McGruff said:
Were there enough Dragons produced to make it the dominant fighter of its time?

Dominant enough to almost cause a large scale war? ;-)
 
Bandit LOAF said:
Yeah, it's an awkward question.

So, my take would be that the question is more along the lines of what the Wing Commander equivalent of the Mustang is. What fighter has that somewhat romantic je ne sais quoi that *represents* success in the war effort?
.

that's interesting you say that...

i agree that in hindsight, fighters inhereit a name, and then the legend for dominating the skies... i think you example of the mustang is strange, indeed a strong argument can be made for them being the best outright.

i think the best anaolgy would be the battle of britain. Which fighter do you most associate with BoB? The spitfire. In fact, the hurricane was the work horse in that confict and did the damage. The spit just wasn't around in those numbers.

it'll be interesting to see how it would have been in the WC universe.. which fighter would have been seen to have delivered the goods. No doubt it would be the excalibur (if u excuse the pun).. Sexy fighters always steal the limelight it seems.
 
Wasting Kitties ...

I gotta be honest. For me, the most dominant figher was the original Rapier. Yeah the Excal was a killing machine and the Dragons were pretty swift in racking up kills, but nothing matched the feeling of total domination after getting your hands on a Rapier in the original. Think about it: firepower that nearly matches the Raptor, speed and maneuvrability that matches the Hornet, with slightly more armor than a Hornet. So many dead kitties after that ... :D
 
TopGun said:
AKAImBatman said:
That's not what it's torpedo loadout said. Hello, kitty...
So any Fighter that carries Bomb, in your logic is therefore a Bomber

So a torpedo-carrying Epee (medium fighter) is a bomber? :D Damn, I should tell that to the guys who get one-shotted by the enemy heavy fighters that the Epee they're riding has the survivability characteristics and multiple-torp loadout of a WC bomber. So much for the champion for accuracy in WC. :rolleyes:

But for me, I voted the Rapier - it lasted over ten years easily as a design, and through two games we played through. It had the shields and firepower of heavier fighters, but the speed and maneuverability of a light. As Iceman stated, "Give me a ship that takes skill. A Raptor, even a Hornet… or one of those new Rapiers. If half of what they say is true, the Rapier’s a true artist’s ship!"

Some fighters had more missiles, later on - others had more guns or shields. But, as far as the MOST fun fighter I ever had to fly, and the one I associated most with the image of success in the war (successful missions, the winning track of WC1), it'd have to be the Rapier.
 
cff said:
Dominant enough to almost cause a large scale war? ;-)

Only if you ignore the "black" Hellcats, Tolwyn-funded pirates, and stolen UBW fighters flown by Project pilots... :p
 
If interpreted the way Loaf did, I'd say the Spit/'stang/Corsair of its time in WC would have to be the Rapier-II.

It started out as a dominant fighter, and pretty much kept that position to the point where it was still the frontline superiority fighter of choice to the Battle of Earth. (Consequently, if Hellcats and such are older fighters, would either the F-44H, or even a later version still be serving as the frontline fighter on fleet carriers circa 2669?)
 
The Excalibur certainly did stand out during it's time, but I felt that the Vampire is slightly in front. The Excalibur was really good - in my opinion more ground breaking than earlier super fighters (if I can call them that :) ) - but for me the jump from the Panther to the Vampire was greater than say... the thunderbolt to the excalibur. During my first mission with the Vampire I found myself overshooting the enemy as it was so manoeuvrable until I got used to its agility. One salvo from full guns would dish out enourmous damage and it carried 20 missiles (32 if you count the MIRV's as 4 each). I think they over did it with this ship since it made prophecy too easy towards the end unless you cranked the difficulty to the maximum.
 
I would've voted for the Dragon since it has unlimited afterburners, cloak, and a good missile loadout- but given the list I voted Excalibur. It wasn't mass produced, but I'm still not sure if this thread intended to imply that. I don't think it did since the Excal. is on the list. It might be interesting to see one about the best fighter to appear in large numbers. I just remember how much easier the planetary defense mission was if you chose to have the keys to the Excalibur left in the ignition vs. leaving it there.

I was surprised to see the Hellcat on the list- I thought this was the worst fighter ever. It seemed to turn at about the same speed as the Thunderbolt which has much heavier armor, a torpedo, extra guns, and a rear turret. The slow turning may have been my computer though (I saw another guy post about this same thing and he thought it was just his computer). Also I would prefer the Hellcat's BW counterpart: the Vindicator. The Bearcat may have been the best mass produced fighter (IF the Dragon doesn't count). We may not be able to count the Bearcat as mass produced though if the raid on the factory is the chosen path. The fighter may not have achieved great enough numbers to be considered until the start of the BW vs. Confed war, which was never actually a reality (though I recall fighting a significant amount of them in WC4). I might vote for the Arrow on a fighters in great numbers list. It was even faster than the Excalibur, held 8 missiles, and had autoslide. Even in WC4 they tore apart my wingmen and the Kilrathi's on the help Melek and his friends mission. They were ALREADY hard to hit, but with the addition of cloaking in WC4 they became a very tough adversary.
 
The Excal was imporant to the end of the war, of course. But was the Kilrathi war its time? Most excals saw service after the war, and they were not dominant then.

That's why I say the Vampire is the one. No other fighter of its time have a similar performance.

The Rapier II is great, but even on WC1 there's the Raptor with more armor and more guns. No such thing with the Vampire, which is also very maneuverable.
 
There is too much to choose from the list.
I would choose the Sabre followed by the Excalibur, Vampire then the Hellcat last.
Too hard to choose.
 
I'd say the sabre is probably the best ship. My personal favorite was the ferret, but that's probably because it's underpowered but fast... makes WC academy's gauntlet more fun when you have no missiles and only 2 mass drivers... and can outrun anyone and anything. The reason I said the sabre though is that it can be a bomber or just a heavy fighter. That ability would be a powerful tactical advantage.
The excalibur was a good fighter, but since it was only a prototype in WC3 and I still haven't played 4(I can't get used to the controls on Playstation...) I really can't say. If I played 4 I have the feeling I probably would have picked it... i mean it was the first confed ship to have a cloaking device! (not to mention it was THE ship that ended the war) Prototypes are always cool though, which is why I'm not sure. (I mean look at the wraith, crossbow and morningstar. Can you remember how cool they were when you tried them?!) In WC3 the excalibur packed a stronger punch than the thunderbolt, with comparable shields and armor but was faster than the hellcat! But after it was out of its prototype stage its numbers really weren't as impressive as the dragon.
 
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